One example of that I found the other day is cereals. I have a bowl of cornflakes every morning for breakfast. Nothing wrong with that - it's a reasonably healthy breakfast; when you read the box it tells you it has 180 calories in a 30g serving with 125ml of semi-skimmed milk. It suddenly occurred to me to wonder, however, how much 30g of cornflakes actually is, so I weighed it one morning - and it's about a third of the amount I'd normally been eating!

Early into my weight-loss program I purchased a can of 'cooking oil spray.' The information on the back said "20 calories per portion size." I figured this would be a great way to cut back. Then I discovered that the portion size was a 1/4 second spray. Even on a Teflon pan, eggs would stick with a 1/4 second spray. For a large frying pan, we needed to use a two-second spray when cooking any fish, meats, or poultry. 160 calories, rather than the 20 I had imagined.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Snack on veggies, low calorie and most of us need more veggies in our diet any way. A single serving of Hummus is 80 calories and works nicely as a dip for carrots and peppers. I do like the snack packs for nuts and the like as well.

Hummus is a great low-cal food, as is babbaganoush (if you make it yourself, cutting down on the tahini.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

I agree! Invaluable is a digital scale out on the counter. I, too, was unknowlingly eating triple or quadruple servings of healthy granola for breakfast.

Before going on a diet, I had been eating granola or muesli for breakfast often... without looking at the calories. Then I read somewhere that it was high and actually looked. I was eating 600 calories worth of cereal alone!

But actually cutting down on serving sizes has been the best help, along with exercise of course. Instead of two chicken breasts, I now eat a half of one. We slice them horizontally, and use a lot of strong seasonings, and it makes the half breast go a long way when served along side a head of steamed broccoli and scallions. Almost no calories in the veggies, but lots of flavor.

And this morning... the scale read... 78.0kg! Still going down, but not as quickly as before. Muscle mass is starting to replace fat.

Thank goodness - finally on the downward path again after 3 consecutive weeks of gaining 1lb a week. I've now lost one of those pounds again. Now that Christmas is over, the downward trend will hopefully resume.

Thank goodness - finally on the downward path again after 3 consecutive weeks of gaining 1lb a week. I've now lost one of those pounds again. Now that Christmas is over, the downward trend will hopefully resume.

Good luck, Harry. Remember... you can eat anything you want. Just don't swallow.

Thank goodness - finally on the downward path again after 3 consecutive weeks of gaining 1lb a week. I've now lost one of those pounds again. Now that Christmas is over, the downward trend will hopefully resume.

What (if any) diet regime are you following Harry? My 2 days-on fasting is bringing me down at a rate of about 1 pound a week. Once I reach my goal (4 pounds to go), I will review that approach and try to establish a plan that maintains that position (11 and a half stone).

I strongly recommend using a website like Live Strong to track your food intake. You tell it what you weigh, your age, and height. You tell it if you are trying to lose weight or maintain and how active you are in your day to day life. Based on that, it tells you the number of calories you should be aiming for on a given day. You track your food there and it helps you stay on track.

I know there are other sites, I happen to have chosen Live Strong because I like the articles on the site as well as the food journal.

I know I have a tendancy to think that I am eating fine and then I look at what I have eaten and how it adds up and go "wow" I would go so far as to say that most Americans have no idea what a true portion size is and how much they are actually eating. Being conscious of what you are consuming and honest with yourself helps to bring your food consumption into better alignment and makes it easier to lose weight and to maintain that weight lose.

Five years ago I weighed 205. Today I am at 175. I would like to get to 160, a number set by my Doctor, and am committed to getting there this year. I wish I had been working on it the last month but getting pneumonia twice has derailed that. I am thrilled that I have maintained my weight. I had weighed 180 at my Doctors appointment in November so I am moving the scale in the right direction.

I use a similar site and I think it helps a lot. But there is still such a huge uncertainty for many things I eat. The caloric value of a bowl of lentil soup depends on what the ingredients were, how brothy it is, and how much I ate. Each of those can be hard to judge especially if someone else made it. I'm often left just guessing.

To get my head and appetite calibrated to a specific daily caloric intake, I had once decided I should eat breakfasts as usual, weighing everything, but then to eat only prepared, packaged meals for lunch and dinner (e.g., microwaveable). After a week of hitting the same calorie total every day, I should be able to get used to what a 1200 (or whatever) calories/day diet is like and what appropriate volumes really look and feel like for each meal. I never tried it but it's still on my list of options for the future.

Some years back, when I moved from a "tech" position into a management position at work - which meant sitting at a desk all day - with lots of stress - I found myself becoming the classic "pear-shaped middle management" shape - which exercise did not alter. So I went on the South Beach diet (with my doctor's approval) for 2 years - and changed my food choices permanently. I now eat only whole wheat breads/snacks/pasta - no more white flour! No potatoes - I substitute stuffing. No refined sugar. Only diet cola - no drinks with fructose sweetening. Desserts are now cheese or yogurt - no cakes, ice cream, etc.
I basically found "approved" foods that I like eating all the time, and stick to them.

My biggest change was in snacking - past bouts with diverticulitis prohibited me from eating nuts or popcorn - so I had migrated to nachos, chips, etc. - I love salty things. But on the diet, I learned to count my snacks - literally! So an approved after dinner snack was 5 Triscuits - no more. Much to the amusement of friends, I still count my snacks now. I defy anyone to binge on Triscuits!

My biggest weakness is alcohol! I enjoy having a Guiness with meals. So I limit myself to one bottle at dinner - and accept that I will live with the layer of belly fat that results from this habit. I'm too old to worry about six pack abs! And I allow myself my single malt nightcaps.

The result - I maintain a relatively constant body weight that varies only around 2-3 pounds up or down over time. I walk every day, have an indoor stepper to use when I can't get out, and when watching TV (you can get a good aerobic work out while watching Jeopardy). I do light weight work-outs 3 or 4 times a week, and do nightly sit-ups and push-ups.

The tightness of my trouser waist signals me when I've been over-indulging - and need to increase my walking or weight work.

This plan seems to be working well for me, and most importantly, is one I can live with and still enjoy eating. I just tried to take the "battle" out of weight control.

The fact that I don't particularly like beer (unless I'm in Germany in the summer time) probably saves me a lot of weight. I have friends who pound 4-5 beers every night and more on the weekends, and I watch them grow and grow...

I think it's almost impossible to accurately count calories. Even with the new laws going into effect in the US, and all the restaurants here that publish calorie counts for meals, one of the news services did some checking and discovered big differences between published levels and what their independent testing service found. The differences seem to stem mostly from serving sizes, and small variations in menu ingredients. Adding in just a tablespoon of oil can add a lot of calories to a dish. Sauces such as pesto, which are oil-based, or dishes that use a lot of butter or cheese can be difficult to keep within specified calorie levels.

For my weight loss over the past 6 months, I 'aimed' for a top limit, but didn't actually add up exact figures. I think we can tell if we are eating correctly, once we know what 'correctly' is. I'm still losing weight, even though I've reached my set goal.

SSo I went on the South Beach diet (with my doctor's approval) for 2 years - and changed my food choices permanently. I now eat only whole wheat breads/snacks/pasta - no more white flour! No potatoes - I substitute stuffing. No refined sugar. Only diet cola - no drinks with fructose sweetening. Desserts are now cheese or yogurt - no cakes, ice cream, etc.

What I really don't get logically is the banning of potatoes. I've read about it in numerous articles and books but I never understood what is soo wrong with them.

What (if any) diet regime are you following Harry? My 2 days-on fasting is bringing me down at a rate of about 1 pound a week. Once I reach my goal (4 pounds to go), I will review that approach and try to establish a plan that maintains that position (11 and a half stone).

Just eat less and exercise every day. I've lost 3 stone in 18 months as a result, but I need to lose about the same again to get to a healthy weight.

What I really don't get logically is the banning of potatoes. I've read about it in numerous articles and books but I never understood what is soo wrong with them.

It is best to avoid white potatoes as they are too high in carbohydrate. The body metabolizes the carbs into glucose (sugar) and if you, like most middle age western males, already have a spare tyre, then your liver, already overworked filtering toxins, booze pollution and other difficult to process foods finds it easier to store the excess sugar as fat.